Former CM Jayalalitha slams attacks on Malay Tamils

(November, 30, Tmil Nadu, Sri Lanka Guardian) Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has termed the police attack on Tamils in Malaysia as barbaric.

Jayalalithaa demanded that the Centre should take immediate steps to get those lodged in prisons released.Jayalalithaa said that the Tamils have been treated like third class citizens despite their help in boosting the Malaysian economy.

Earlier, Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Tuesday warned protesting ethnic Indians that the government will invoke the Internal Security Act (ISA), under which a person can be held without trial for an extended period of time.

''When it is appropriate it will be used,'' Badawi, who is also the internal security minister, was quoted by the national news agency Bernama as saying.

He said under current circumstances, the government was leaving it to the police to evaluate the situation and take appropriate measures to guarantee peace and security.

Badawi's remarks comes in the wake of a massive street demonstration on Sunday by ethnic Indians here who complained of being marginalised since the time their ancestors were brought from India as indentured labourers and exploited, an allegation denied by the Malaysian government.

''The ISA is a preventive measure to spare the nation from untoward incidents that can harm the prevailing peace and harmony and create all sorts of adverse things. So, I don't know (when to invoke the ISA), but ISA will be there. When it is appropriate to use it, it will be used,'' he said.

Badawi was responding to reports that several street demonstrations by the ethnic Indians would be held in the country soon.